Wardrobe trunk



G. F. GRUBE.

WARDROBE TRUNK.

APPLICATION FILED IAN-27,1919- 1,409,708. Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- /NVA/7'01? WIT/V586: 62 ,25 FT 65*4156 G. F. GRUBE.

WARDROBE TRUNK.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-27,1919.

1,409,708. Patnted Mar. 14, 1922.

2 SHEETS SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. GRUBE, or rivANs'roN, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE BELBER TRUNK & BAG

COMPANY, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION or PENNSYL- VANIA.

WARDROBE TRUNK.

T 0 all w from it may concern Be it known that I, Gnonen F. GRUBE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Eyanston, county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in "Wardrobe Trunks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form partof this specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a box for containing shoes and footwear generally which may be applied to a wardrobe trunk in such manner as to be movable relatively to the trunk body in order to facilitate access both to the interior of the trunk and the interior of the box itself and which is so shaped and positioned that it will afford ample space for holding a normal quantity of footwear and yet will not seriously reduce the garment holding capacity of the trunk.

A typical wardrobe trunk comprises two sections or compartments hinged together, one compartment being provided at the upper portion with a garment supporter on which may be arranged removable garment hangers from which the garments are suspended; Many of these garments are of such length as to occupy practically the entire height of the compartment, but the upper parts of such garments usually have the greatest thickness of material. Other garments are considerably shorter than the height of the trunk. Consequently, while the upper portion of the compartment may be full to capacity and occupy substantially the entire space from the rear wall oft-he compartment to the front thereof, the garments in the lower portion of the compartment will, measured in depth, occupy a materially smaller space, and the nearer to the bottom the greater in depth, theunoccupied s ace.

I have taken advantage of this condition in shaping and positioning my shoe box, as will be apparent from an examination of the accompanying drawings, wherein- Fig. l is a perspective view of a wardrobe trunlr embodying my invention,

Fig. 2 is a vertical section across the lower part of one of the compartments.

Fig. 3 is a top view of the shoe box detached.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

Application filed January 27,1919. Serial No. 273,214.

Fig. at is a horizontal section through the lower part of said compartment.

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view of the hinged connection between the trunk and the shoe box.

The two compartments (1 and b of the trunk are of conventional type except for the provision of the shoe box. Compartment (1 is shown as provided with drawers 0, al-

. though, for the purposes of the present invention, the use to which compartment or is put is a matter of indifference. Compartment 6 is provided with. any suitable garment supporter, which may consist of the conventional members 6, 6, adapted, between them, to slidably support a number of garment hangers, from which the garments depend. The' suspended garments may be forced toward the rear wall of the compartment by any suitable flexible retainer f, although the use of a retainer is optional.

Along the bottom front edge of the compartment Z) -is hinged a box 9, which has a comparatively wide base and narrow top, as may best be seen by reference to Fig. 2. Thus, an unoccupied space at the rear of the top of the box is provided sufiiciently wide to accommodate any garments hanging from the supporter, even though the full depth of the compartment is occupied at the top of the compartment. At the rear of the bottom of the box the unoccupied space is of substantially less depth, although still amply sufficient to accommodate the lower ends of the suspended garments. The internal dimensions of the box g are thus suflicient to hold a normal quantity of footwear without crushing the suspended garments or reducing the garment-capacity of the compartment.

The box 9 is removably hinged to the compartment by being provided with (preferably) two angle bars, h, h, which engage undercut recesses formed in the base of the compartment 6 adjacent its front edge. These recesses may conveniently be formed by cutting recesses z in the base and covering the recesses with slotted angle plates y, as is clearly shown in Fig. 5.

Along the ends of the box are leaf springs in, having limiting flanges m. The free ends ofthe springs are forced in toward or against the ends of box as the box is swung from the dotted line position to the full line position shown in Figi2. The flanges 7nlimit the inward swmging movement of the box by contacting with the upright front edges of'the compartment. The sprlngs hold thebox in upright position but not so tightly as toprevent: the ready outward movement of the box by hand.' After the box is swung tion, what I claim and desire to protect by out'into or toward its dotted line position, 'it' may readily be lifted off its hinges, if desired, and removed out of the way to allow easy access to the compartment.

Having now fully described my inven- I Letters Patent is:

7 (-eive the first angle plate. 7

2, In a wardrobe trunk, the combination a v of the trunk compartment whose bottomadjacent its front edge isprovided with a forwardly undercut recess, of a box extending acrossv the lower part of the compartment and an angle plate, said angle plate having a vertically extending front member secured to the front of the box, a horizontal member extending rearwardfrom the front member,

and a downwardlyfland forwardly extending member-extend nginto said recess.

In a wardrobe trunkpthe combination with the t-runkicompartment, of a box extending across the lower part of the 'compartment, a lremovable hinged connection between the lower front edges of the compartment and'box, and means adapted, when the box 1s swung in, to automatically limit its inward movement andhold it in upright I ';POSlt-lO11 but to y eld: when thebox is forcibly pulled outward said box having a base substantially deeper than its top and having aheight substantially exceeding the depth ofitsbase.

4. In a wardrobe trunk, the combination with an open front trunk compartment, of a box extending across the lower part of the compartment, and leaf springs secured to the outer walls of the ends of the box and adapted, in the insertion of the box, to slide frictionally between the outer end walls of the box and oppositely facing upright portions of the open front of the compartment, the free end of the leafy springs having outwardly extending flanges adapted to engage the forwardly facing edges of the ends of the compartment; the-springs thereby acting frictionally as yielding, non-positive means to hold the box in position and the flanges of the springs acting as stops to limit the inward movement of the box while offering no obstacle tothe withdrawal of the box by a :pull sufiioient to overcome the tension of the springs 5. In a wardrobe trunk, the combination with the trunk compartment, of a box extending'across the lower part of the com- 7 I partment, a removable hinged connection between the lower front edges of the compartment and box, and means adapted, when the box 1s swung in, to automatically limit its inward movement,.said box having a base substantially deeper than its top and having a height substantially exceeding the depth of its base. V r

In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand, at Chicagmlllinois. on this 22nd day" of January, 1919.v

' GEORGE F. GRUBE. 

